Schema Theory and Application for the Content Teacher

Schema theory, research, and implications for the classroom were studied. Based on research, teacher resources, and curriculum demands, instruction was designed for a secondary teacher of United States History. During a workshop, four secondary teachers from three districts reacted to research and instruction. A video tape was developed showing schema theory concepts, related research, application for the content teacher, and reactions from secondary teachers. Implications for the content teacher are discussed

How Reading Teachers Select and Use Evidence-Based, Culturally Responsive Strategies to Support Black Students

Literacy researchers have found that using evidence-based intervention strategies with students receiving response to intervention Tier 2 services impacted the support they receive. The problem was that researchers had not examined how elementary reading intervention teachers decided how to use effective evidence-based, culturally responsive strategies to support Black students receiving Tier 2 services. This basic qualitative study aimed to understand how elementary reading intervention teachers decided how to use effective evidence-based, culturally responsive strategies to support Black students receiving Tier 2 services. Bartlett\u27s schema theory was the framework used in the study. The study used a basic qualitative approach. Data analysis was thematic coding of 10 reading intervention teachers\u27 open-ended, semistructured interview questions. Findings suggested district resources guided the decision-making and implementation of reading strategies for Black students receiving Tier 2 services. Findings also purport no consideration of culture when deciding how to use effective evidence-based reading strategies. At the same time, teachers did not receive professional development to support them in this process. The implications for positive social change address the disparities between races and achievement and may help close the achievement gap and impact high school graduation rates

Expertise in Trial Advocacy: Some Considerations for Inquiry into Its Nature and Development

It is the central thesis of this paper that what is needed to assess the validity of many of the criticisms directed toward legal practice and training, and to resolve many of the controversies surrounding attempts to correct these criticisms, is a representation or documentation of the structure of expertise in legal practice - especially in trial advocacy since this represents the focus of most complaints. Without such a representation it is difficult to support allegations of incompetence or to defend the efficiency of specific reform on other than subjective or intuitive grounds. At this time no systematic representation exists

Moving from research to materials design : a study of schemata activation in elementary level EFL textbooks

ii ABSTRACT This thesis explores the application of Schema Theory in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) internationally produced coursebooks used in schools in the city of San Luis (Argentina) during the period 2000-2010. The aim of the study is to evaluate trends regarding the presence of schemata, their activation and the techniques used in the context of the four skills. It follows an exploratory, descriptive approach based on document analysis: a mixed model research design (Cameron, 2009) using descriptive content analysis and statistical analysis to identify patterns in the data. Nine beginner level textbooks and their corresponding teacher guides were analysed. The results reveal a high, constant level of activation of content schemata and a high, though slightly decreasing, percentage of activation of formal schemata along the 2000-2010 period. The inclusion and activation of cultural schemata is minimal. The activation techniques most used in the coursebooks are links with a previous activity, the use of images and triggering elements in the rubrics/titles, whereas setting the context and elicitation of students’ schemata and of expected content were also very frequent choices in the teacher guides. In general, the principles of Schema Theory were found to be applied to some extent in the sample, although the non-increasing trends pose some concern. Additionally, the results indicate that the inclusion and activation of cultural schemata, a stronger connection with previous activities and more contextualisation in the rubrics should be impleme

Inferencing skills of deaf adolescent readers

The great difficulty which deaf children have in learning to read is well documented. Previous studies have examined such aspects as problems with vocabulary and syntax but little work has been directed towards inferential and discourse skills. The present series of studies examines the inferencing skills of severely and profoundly deaf adolescents. Different types of inference were examined using a variety of experimental techniques, ranging from on-line reading times, through memory probes after reading, to tracking the movements of subjects' eyes as they read. The deaf were found to be poorer at drawing inferences than hearing children matched on reading age, although they can recall as much detail from those extra texts in which they do infer correctly as the controls. The deaf were as successful as the reading age matched controls for material which required spatial inferences but not for more abstract temporal and causal inferences. On-line studies suggested that the deaf, when drawing inferences, use a schemata, concept driven mechanism similar to hearing peers approximately matched for chronological age. A similar mechanism would seem to be operating when material is presented in the form of sign language. Thus many of the difficulties previously ascribed to deaf children's reading skills may in fact derive from more general language problems. It is suggested that these difficulties with inferencing are independent of modality of presentation and perhaps reflect a more impoverished experimental background for most deaf children. The comparative richness of scenarios for deaf and hearing children are then investigated

Levels of Cultural Familiarity and Strategy Use in Reading Comprehension

Previous studies have used cross-cultural comparisons to demonstrate the effect of background knowledge on reading comprehension. The present study used a similar approach to study the relations between background knowledge, reading skill and level of use of reading comprehension strategies. Eighty-eight sixth-grade participants in elementary school were equally divided according to reading skill (skilled and less skilled) and country (Bahamas or Canada). Subjects thought aloud while reading culturally familiar and unfamiliar informative texts. Protocols were scored according to the level of strategic action exhibited and according to the condition triggering the action. The results, while confirming the role of knowledge in the construction of meaning, indicated significant country differences in subjects\u27 use of knowledge and in correlations of strategy level with other measures. Results from the Canadian sample confirmed other North American findings: level of strategy use was positively correlated with both reading skill and with comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar texts. However, the Bahamian skilled and less skilled students demonstrated consistently higher levels of strategy and knowledge use on both familiar and unfamiliar stories than did the Canadian students. Furthermore, in the Bahamian sample, level of strategy use was not correlated with reading skill or comprehension. These results raise questions about the generality of relationship between reading strategies and comprehension. Eighty-eight sixth-grade participants in elementary school were equally divided according to reading skill (skilled and less skilled) and country (Bahamas or Canada)